Maxi Cosi launches the world’s first car seat with integrated airbags

Every year, more than 7,000 children in the UK are injured in road traffic crashes, according to official government statistics.

Thankfully, only 5 percent of these result in serious injury, and very few are fatal. These numbers have been steadily declining over the years, as improvements in car seat technology and an increased tendency to keep infants rearward-facing for longer has helped protect children from serious injury.

And now, it would seem, car seats are about to become even safer, following an announcement from leading car seat brand Maxi Cosi that they are integrating airbags into their newest seats.

“Cars are designed to transport adults and while they have got safer over the decades, child safety is still largely dependent on the use of car seats,” said Charles de Kervénoaël, President & CEO of Dorel Juvenile Europe. “A few years ago, we investigated if and how airbags could better protect a child’s head and neck in forward-facing car seats. This is the outcome. Our Maxi-Cosi Air Safety technology will lower the impact of an accident to a child’s neck and head in a forward-facing child car seat, resulting in better safety.”

The new car seat works with a CO2 cartridge and an airbag trigger system built into the back of the car seat. The system detects a collision in 0.015 seconds, inflating the two airbags in the shoulder pads air within the blink of an eye to cushion the head softly. Tests prove that the Maxi-Cosi Air Safety technology leads to a reduction of up to 55% of the forces acting on the neck vertebrae and the head in the case of a frontal collision.

The first child car seat that will include the airbag is the AxissFix Air. The seat can be used in both rear- and forward-facing positions, and is suitable for children whose height ranges between 61 and 105 centimetres.